Chapter 66

'He really led me here…' I thought while looking around.

Together with the wolves that were working under him, the Lightning Wolf led me to their lair. And for some unknown reason, the monster was treating me as a guest, instead of a prisoner. More than that, upon arriving at his place, the monster also told his subordinates to prepare a temporary shelter and provide me some food. It was, for a lack of better words, bizarre.

In one of the memories of my past life, I remembered a scene in which a certain tribe led a group of explorers into their hidden village. There, they fed the unsuspecting explorers until they were full and then gave them a place to sleep and rest. But when the explorers woke up, they were all already tied up and were displayed in the center of the village. Following that, the people of the tribe proceeded to butcher the explorers one by one before ultimately cooking and eating their flesh.

Because of that, I imagined a scene in which a bunch of wolves was feasting on their kind. It was a very horrid scene in which I visualized myself in the shoes of the one being feast upon. 'I-it can’t be, right? T-that’s too much of a cliché.' I murmured as a chilling sensation ran up my back.

Fortunately, the Lightning Wolf’s reason for leading me here was at least a little bit logical. According to him, now that we have collapsed that path, the only exit that was left on this place was the one that led up to the surface. But from what I could understand, it seemed like there was an unknown and powerful entity that had taken residence outside. And if I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like these guys didn’t want to antagonize nor disturb that being no matter what the circumstances were. In short, the Lightning Wolf was probably doing this to ensure that I wouldn’t cause any further trouble for him by angering that mysterious individual.

'But then, that means that we were quite literally stuck here.' To be honest, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t try to lead that conversation to this very same conclusion. After all, I still hadn’t given up on my goal of killing that Tempest Wolf and slaughtering his pack. And for me, the best and easiest way of doing that was to cause a divide between the three remaining alphas. Once the conflict started, I could simply jump on the bandwagon or act as if I was just caught up in the incident. More than that, I would also have the perk of being on friendly terms with the Lighting Wolf and that would save me the trouble of possibly fighting them in succession. In essence, it was basically an infiltration mission and I somehow managed to successfully pull it off.

That said, the whole motive of the Lightning Wolf remained a mystery. Because in truth, if all he really wanted was to prevent me from making any troubles, then it would be a lot more efficient if he just killed me right then and there.

'Well, it’s not as if I will just let him kill me without fighting back. But even so…' Frankly speaking, given my current condition, the Lightning Wolf and his minions could probably pull it off. 'Is he trying to preserve the overall strength of his forces?' was my immediate assumption on his actions. 'If so…'

At that moment, the Lighting Wolf and his entourage came back. And on his back, I saw the monster’s minions carrying some sort of meat on their mouths. 'Is that what I think it is?' Seeing that meat, my animalistic instinct kicked in causing me to gulp with an audible sound.

Without even bothering to comment on my behavior, the Lightning Wolf opened up. “We found… a place… for you…” He said in a choppy but amused tone.

When I noticed that, I shook my head in a snap and clear those thoughts away. 'I-I see…' I replied in a fluster.

Following that, the Lightning Wolf and his entourage guided me towards the supposed guest room. In just about a minute, we finally reached that place and then entered inside. Once we were there, the Lighting Wolf gestured at his minions to go and leave the meat behind.

The two of us watched in silence as the other wolves left. Then, upon making sure that we were finally alone, the Lightning Wolf began. “So… here’s the… deal…” In the very next instance, the monster explained the terms of our agreement in shocking detail.

First; the food that they had given me was only for today, so from tomorrow onwards, I needed to hunt and search for food on my own. According to the Lightning Wolf, this was done to avoid any problems down the line.

Second; I was to be considered as an honorary guest instead of an actual member of the pack. In this way, I could keep the freedom to make my own decisions, whilst making sure the hierarchy between the two of us remained as that of an equal.

Third; in exchange for letting me stay in their lair, I had to join and help the weaker wolves during their daily hunt for food. But as an additional perk, they would give me a cut after the hunt was done, and that would also solve my problem in food as a bonus.

Fourth; trying to influence or interfere with the decision-making of the pack was prohibited by any means. This was in line with the fact that I was just an honorary guest so I had to respect the Lightning Wolf’s authority. In short, I was free to do whatever I wanted as long as it wouldn’t cause any harm or problems for the Lightning Wolf’s pack.

'Well, that was pretty detailed…' I muttered in a daze.

“Of course… you’re an… alpha-class… after all…” The Lightning Wolf replied.

To be perfectly honest, I found myself blown away during his long and choppy explanation. Because no matter how I think about it, I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that a monster created such a detailed agreement. In fact, if someone took it out of context, I would even think that it was created by an actual adult human. More than that, he also said something about being an alpha-class. This, of course, led me to believe that the other two alphas could also do the same.

'I understand.' I agreed with respect. And then, before the monster could respond, I looked him in the eye. 'But what if, for just as an example, I violated one of those?' I said, half-jest.

Upon hearing that nasty joke, I saw a flash of conviction on the monster’s shining silver eyes. “Then… I will… hunt you… down…” He declared and showed a ferocious smile.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but chuckle. 'I see.'

After that, the Lightning Wolf left my place in silence. 'What an amusing guy.' Once he was out of sight, I sat there on my spot and then scanned the area around. In my mind, I expanded my radar-like senses near my place without holding back.

'He’s gone. But…' Near the surrounding areas of my place, I sensed multiple presences of what seemed to be a bunch of Great Wolves. And from what I could tell, it looked like those wolves were here to observe and examine my behavior. 'Heh, they are not even trying to hide their presence. Interesting.'

If what they were doing was an instruction from their alpha, then this was already a confirmation that he really was aware of my powerful sensory skill. And if my guess was right, there was also a high chance that he was in the possession of the very same skill. After all, that was the only possible explanation why he had such a good understanding of the details of the skill. In other words, that alpha could very well be a master of using the skill. Which, of course, meant that I wouldn’t be able to fool him using that skill.

'So, this is your way of telling me that you’re watching, huh? Quite flashy, I must say.' Since the Lightning Wolf had gone out of his way to prepare all of this, I couldn’t help but wonder what his motives might be. Because as far as I was concerned, an intelligent monster like that wouldn’t go all through this trouble without any kind of goal in mind. 'In short, he’s hiding and planning something. But then, what could it possibly be?'

While thinking things like that, I walked towards the meat that Lightning Wolf gave. And the moment that I stopped in front of it, a familiar voice rang inside my head. “Maybe he’s just trying to lull you in a false sense of security.” The voice stated in confidence.

'And what? Kill me when my guard is down? That’s ridiculous. As if I would fall for that.' I quipped back.

“Well, it’s not too far-fetched. After all, I’m pretty sure that you also inherited the naivete of the other one.” The voice pointed out and then continued with a mocking tone. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, but you can be overly emotional at times. In fact, your desire to pursue that Tempest Wolf is the proof of that.”

'Tsk! I have my own reasons so just watch.' I snapped back.

“Fine, fine. Whatever you say.”